The Rogersville Wildcats appear to be in mid-season form. The volleyball team took home first place in the annual Lori Endicott Volleyball Tournament on Saturday.
Not only did they win the tournament, but Rogersville did not drop a set all day throughout pool play, in the semifinals or in the championship game against Willard. Rogersville beat Willard 25-18, 25-19 in the first-place game.
“We wanted to come and we wanted to play well and get better, and I felt like each game we got a little better,” said Wildcats coach Tammy Miller. “I felt like we kind of found ourselves. It’s always kind of nice to play a tournament real quick to kind of find yourself.”
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The host team Willard proved to be formidable, having lost just one set in the tournament before the title game against Rogersville. Willard scored two quick points to start the first set, but Rogersville immediately took the lead 3-2 and did not trail for the rest of the set.
In the second set, Willard went on multiple runs – highlighted by 6-2 run early in the set to go up 8-5 – but Rogersville weathered the storm and outlasted the Tigers to win in straight sets.
Rogersville freshman Birdie Hendrickson is a player to keep an eye on. She led the way with 11 kills in the championship match. She also added a block and seven digs.
“She leads us in kills,” said Miller of her star freshman. “She brings a lot of that energy to us. I told the kids, everybody has to do their job. Yes, we love [Hendrickson] and we key off her, but I’ve got kids that hold their blocks so she gets one on ones, and she does a great job where we get one on ones in the middle. Yeah, she’s a great player. I look for good things out of her in the next four years.”
Birdie’s senior sister Hanna Hendrickson played a big role as well. She contributed eight kills, two blocks, four assists, two digs and an ace. Junior setter McKenna Miller recorded 18 assists for Rogersville.
“This has been our toughest game we’ve had this season,” Willard coach Jamalee Hancock said. “We’re excited to see and have to play a good team like Rogersville… We had too many unforced errors, and you can’t do that against a good team.”
These two coaches are quite familiar with each other.
“I never like losing to Rogersville. [Tammy Miller and I] were high school teammates,” said Hancock. “We go way back. We’ve been duking it out for 18 years… We look forward to playing them again in a couple weeks.”
Willard will travel to Rogersville on Sept. 19.
Both teams will compete at home on Tuesday, Aug. 30 for their next game. Willard will square off with Springfield Central while Rogersville welcomes in Camdenton.
“We don’t look too much past what’s right in front of us,” said Miller. “Of course, you want to win your conference. The ultimate goal, like every team in the state, wants to go to the Final Four, but it’s one game at a time and you don’t overlook anybody. You can sit there and watch teams that are really good overlook somebody and get beat… So we just take it one game at a time and try to get better.”
